Thimphu, December 16, 2016 – Bhutan has improved its public financial management (PFM) considerably over the past six years according to a new report jointly released by the Royal Government of Bhutan and the World Bank.
The 2016 Public Financial Management Performance Report analyses the country’s PFM through 31 internationally endorsed indicators and finds improvement in areas such as budget credibility, oversight of public sector entities and indicators related to revenue, compared to the last assessment conducted in 2010. This means improved management, allocation, and distribution of public funds to support the people of Bhutan.
“Bhutan has made substantial progress in PFM and we look forward to working with Bhutan to build on its successes,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. “We look forward to supporting continued reforms through a planned Multi-Donor Fund jointly supported by the World Bank and our partners including the European Union and Austria.”
These reforms will focus on areas for improvement such as expenditure composition out-turn, controls over payroll, expenditure arrears and public access to information through strengthening the public expenditure management system and related IT systems. Major reforms underway will substantially strengthen the PFM environment specifically in the areas of shaping annual performance agreements, implementing an integrated financial management system, establishment of Parliamentary Finance Committee, procurement, internal auditing coupled with adopting international public sector accounting standards.
“The 2016 assessment provides a strong basis for us to undertake the next level of reforms to further strengthen the PFM for ensuring proper accountability in the use of public resources with economy and efficiency for achieving the envisaged goals of the 11th Five-Year Plan, besides promoting good governance,” said Nim Dorji, the Royal Government of Bhutan’s Finance Secretary. “We are committed to sound PFM to benefit the people of Bhutan.”
